Rafael Nadal, who was set to take part in the Dubai Tennis Championships after 15 years, has pulled out of the ATP 500 tournament, still tending to the abdomen injury he picked up at the Australian Open last month.The 22-time Grand Slam champion’s withdrawal comes as no surprise, seeing as he had made it abundantly clear in recent days that the original recovery period for the Grade 2 injury (6-8 weeks) did not change even after a second consultation with his medical team.
Nadal, who was defending 500 ranking points from the Mexican Open (which takes place at the same time as Dubai), will now lose all of them, sending him further tumbling down the rankings.
Also withdrawing from the Dubai event (February 27 to March 4) is Marin Cilic, who had to skip the Australian Open as well due to a knee injury he picked up during his time in India for the Tata Open Maharashtra at the start of the year
The Mallorcan, alongside Cilic, has also withdrawn from the Qatar Open the previous week (February 20-25), taking them both out of the entire Middle East Swing on the men’s tour.The next tournament on the calendar is Indian Wells, where the World No. 6 reached the final last year, losing to Taylor Fritz in the summit clash. Cilic, on the other hand, exited in the first round in 2022 and is defending a mere 10 ranking points.
